Shipping container explosives and contraband detection system using nuclear quadrupole resonance

ABSTRACT

For container-carried explosives or contraband in which the container is made of conductive material and can therefore constitute a Faraday cage, stimulated emissions due to nuclear quadrupole resonance are detected utilizing a terminated balanced transmission line and a directional coupler for the detection of explosives, contraband, narcotics and the like that exist in metal containers.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims rights under 35 USC §119(e) from U.S. Application Ser. No. 61/299,673 filed Jan. 29, 2010, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to detection of explosives or contraband in a shipping container, and more particularly to the use of nuclear quadrupole resonance for the detection of molecules such as explosives, narcotics and other molecules of interest contained in metallic shipping containers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The use of shipping containers to house explosives or contraband presents certain detection problems, especially when the containers house non-nuclear explosives and contraband such as drugs and the like. Priorly detection of explosives or contraband in a shipping container required opening the container for inspection. This however is a cumbersome process and there is a requirement for remote substance detection that can penetrate a metal container. While various techniques may be available, nuclear quadrupole resonance has been found to work when using terminated balanced transmission lines such as described in co-pending patent application entitled Transmission Line Array For Explosive Detection Using Nuclear Quadrupole. Resonance, BAEP-1288, filed on even date herewith and incorporated herein by reference. However, the ability to use the technique to penetrate metal shipping containers was thought impossible.

By way of background, in the early 1900s, not long after Einstein published his equations on thermal equilibrium, individuals realized that there were likely to be resonances at very low frequencies for atoms and molecules and that these resonances would occur because if one emits a photon of exactly the correct frequency, the material will absorb this photon, store it for some amount of time and then get rid of the absorbed energy. It is has been found that in nature the molecules which absorb such energy always fall to a lower energy state.

One of the ways for the material to emit energy is through spontaneous emission where a photon of exactly the same energy that is impinging on the material is thrown off in a random direction at random times.

The second way of getting rid of the energy absorbed by the material is through process of stimulated emission in which a photon arrives at exactly the appropriate energy, gets near the molecule, stimulates the molecule and when the molecule drops to the lower energy state it emits a photon that is exactly in phase with the original photon.

The energy that is thrown off either in spontaneous emission or stimulated emission results in an exceedingly narrow spectral line. In fact the line is generally considered to be a single line that exists at a given wavelength or frequency. It is noted that the material only has one choice assuming that the material is pumped at its lowest energy state, raising the energy within the molecule such that the only way that it can release its energy is to emit a photon of that exact energy.

Nuclear quadrupole resonance has been utilized in the past to detect the presence of specific molecules, including explosives. Explosives generally involve the use of nitrogen or nitrogen bonded with other elements. When nuclear quadrupole resonance was utilized in the past, it was used to detect the presence of molecules due to the molecular elements that are bonded together such that the molecules absorb energy at for instance as many as eight different energy levels or spectral lines. It turns out that at least three of the energy levels tend to be prominent, although in some materials there are upwards of all eight energy levels for one bond. If one has many bonds there may be many dozens of spectral lines. In order to detect the presence of a molecule one usually is looking to pump energy right at the top of one of the spectral lines and look for energy coming back at the same frequency.

As discussed in co-pending patent application by Paul A. Zank and John T. Apostolos, entitled Method and Apparatus For Sensing The Presence Of Explosives, Contraband and Other Molecules Using Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance, BAEP-1277, filed on even date herewith and incorporated herein by reference, as part of the subject invention, it has been found that the spectral lines of interest especially for explosives are in the 100 KHz to 10 MHz range. A particularly interesting explosive is called RDX which has a spectral line in the 3 to 4 MHz range, as does sodium nitrate.

However if one is seeking to detect stimulated or emission or spontaneous emission at 3 MHz, the wavelength of the returns is incredibly long, in some cases corresponding to the size of a building. Moreover, the photons that are emitted in either spontaneous or stimulated emission represent very little energy. For instance, a red photon carries an energy of about 3.5 electron volts, with detectable radiation being one or two millionths of 3.5 electron volts. The result is that photons emitted from the molecules are virtually undetectable. One of the reasons is that in order to detect single photons one is faced with thermal background that overwhelms the detection process. In order to achieve any type of result, one pumps large numbers of photons into the target material such that for every milliwatt second an extraordinary number of photons are involved.

If the photons are at the appropriate frequency they are absorbed and only when the frequency exactly corresponds to a resonance line does the molecule start absorbing the photons. Thus it is quite important that the frequency source utilized in the nuclear quadrupole resonance measurements be extremely precise and stable.

If one performs a frequency sweep, the emission that comes back is on the order of 1% of the energy that impinges on the molecule.

It is noted that prior nuclear quadrupole resonance techniques can be likened to looking into a headlight to find a 1% response.

As a result, a pulsed coil prior art nuclear quadrupole resonance detection of molecules requires upwards of 100 kilowatts of energy coupled to a very high Q tuned coil having for instance a Q of 80 or better. If there is any offset in terms of the frequency of the incident radiation or if the coil tuning was not precise, then any emissions from the molecule will be lost in the clutter.

First and foremost in the prior art pulsed coil nuclear quadrupole resonance techniques, it was only with difficulty that one could in fact detect any response. One of the reasons is because the coil exhibits a large dwell time after which one looked for a response.

If one did not wait, the incoming radiation would swamp the detectable results. In order to eliminate this problem, those in the past used a pulsed source and then waited for a response after the trailing edge of the pulse. Prior systems thus pumped pulsed energy into a coil with the target material at the center of the coil. Thereafter the material would absorb energy and then the prior systems would listen for the spontaneous decay.

The problem with spontaneous decay that at thermal equilibrium a spontaneous photon happens only once for every two million stimulated photons. Thus, in terms of detecting spontaneous decay, one is at an extremely difficult power disadvantage. Secondly, the spontaneous decay might happen over several tens of milliseconds which means that the instantaneous power levels at any point in time are very low. For spontaneous decay using a pulsed coil nuclear quadrupole resonance, the problem is that one is working with very few photons and, further they are stretched out over time. This means that one has to use huge amounts of power to overcome these problems, often in the nature of kilowatts of energy. Moreover, because one is looking at very low signal strength the coil is made with a very high Q. This means that the coil couples well with the environment, that in turn means that the coil picks up a great deal of background noise.

Pulsed coil nuclear quadrupole resonance detection systems have been marginally cost effective and their power density has exceeded human safe limits.

More specifically, taking RDX as an example, the bandwidth of the RDX resonance is about 400 hertz. This means that the associated decay time or relaxation time is on the order of 2.5 milliseconds. If one were to sweep the frequency through the resonance as one approaches the resonant frequency, what happens is that one excites the nucleus of the nitrogen atom. When the nucleuses are excited they go into an upper state and then as one sweeps by the frequency there is a population inversion in these nuclei at which time they start to decay.

If one utilizes a long CW pulse what would happen is that one would see a periodicity of absorption and emission. When the CW pulse is turned on, the molecule goes into the excited state but then relaxes through stimulated emission. What would happen utilizing a CW signal is that one would see a series of absorptions and emissions that would occur every 2.5 milliseconds.

For RDX, assuming a pulsed coil system, one must use a pulse width of about half a millisecond because the pulse has to decay down fast enough so that the spontaneous emission can be observed.

Thus in the past a relatively short pulse of CW energy was used to enable listening for the response. However, in order to be able to detect the response at all, a very high Q coil was required. High Q coils have an excessive relaxation time. As a result, in order to provide for the ability to listen when driving a very high Q coil at half a millisecond one has to have other circuitry to quench the coil as fast as possible so as to be able to listen to the return, typically in terms of a little hiss that comes off after irradiation with the pulse.

Thus, in the prior systems one had to have exceedingly large kilowatt sources of 3 MHz energy in order to obtain enough of a response, and then had to pulse the source so as to be able to stop it and quench it in time to be able to detect the minuscule response that would occur.

Having the high Q coil further was complicated by the fact that one could not frequency sweep a sample because the high Q coil resonates at only one frequency.

This for instance precludes the ability to distinguish between the detection of multiple spectral lines to be able to distinguish the spectral response of the target molecules from the spectral responses from uninteresting molecules.

Also, when using a high Q coil one has to use an exceedingly large amount of shielding to make the system safe for use around people, as well as having to actively quench the coil.

Moreover, when pumping 1 kilowatt into a coil, the presence of the system is very easy to detect. Thus, terrorists could avoid screening knowing that such a detection system was in operation.

Note that the pulsed coil system detects spontaneous not stimulated emissions. Spontaneous emissions are not coherent and one obtains the square root of the power coming back.

Thus, in the past it has been virtually impossible to provide a workable system that would reliably and safely detect dangerous amounts of explosive material hidden on a human.

Substance Detection Using Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance and Terminated Balanced Transmission Lines

As described in a co-pending patent, application by Paul A. Zank and John T. Apostolos, entitled Method and Apparatus for Sensing the Presence of Explosives, Contraband and other Molecules Using Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance, filed on even, date herewith and incorporated herein by reference, this application being based on Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/299,652, an array can be provided for nuclear quadrupole resonance detecting systems in which an array of loaded or terminated balanced transmission lines is used for wide area coverage. In one embodiment, side by side balanced transmission lines are simultaneously driven in phase with synchronous frequency swept signals. Each of the balanced transmission lines is fed with a low power swept frequency source and stimulated emissions are picked, off with a directional coupler. For location, if a crossed grid array is used, the location of the sensed substance at a cross point as well as its existence can be sensed over a wide area. Alternatively, if a phase detector is used for each balanced line, the phase between outgoing and incoming signals translates to the location of the sensed substance, measured from the feedpoint of the balanced transmission line.

Note, rather than using the high power noise-prone pulsed coil system for detecting nuclear quadrupole resonance lines due to spontaneous emission, in the subject system stimulated emission is sensed. For stimulated emissions, the energy produced by the molecule is not spontaneous and it is not happening randomly. Rather, the emission that is seen in the stimulated emission is coming back exactly in phase with the incident radiation, namely a coherent response.

More specifically, a low power swept frequency source is used in combination with a probe in the form of a terminated balanced transmission line in which molecules including explosives, narcotics and the like that are located between the transmission line elements are detected. In this system the result of the absorption of the milliwatt/watt energy is picked off with a directional coupler or circulator so as to eliminate the transmitted energy from swamping the received energy. What is seen is the 1% stimulated emission coherent result that is exactly in-phase with the transmitted signal. It is the coherent in-phase relationship that permits integrating the weak signals into a detectable result.

As a result of utilizing the directional coupler the transmitted signal is rejected. Moreover, the utilization of a balanced transmission line essentially has a zero Q, thus eliminating the background noise associated with the high Q coils. Moreover, since the transmission line is not resonant at any one frequency, a sample can be frequency swept or simultaneously irradiated with signals at multiple frequencies. Additionally, there is no frequency limit to the sweep frequency since there are no tuned circuits involved.

In one embodiment, the energy is step wise swept so as to be able to correlate the result with spectral lines of a known molecule while being able to reject returns from molecules having other spectral lines.

It has been found for explosives such as TNT, RDX and PETN and other molecules of interest that sweeping between 100 KHz and 10 MHz is enough of a sweep to discriminate against non-target materials. For instance, while one might be looking for the spectral lines associated with RDX, one would also like to be able to ignore the spectral lines of for other materials, or for that matter glycine which is present in a great many biologic materials.

This system is typically operated at between 200 milliwatts up to 10 watts, making the system much safer than the high power kilowatt pulsed coil nuclear quadrupole resonance systems. Moreover, quenching is unnecessary.

For robust detection of the stimulated emission, more than one spectral line can be considered as an indicator of the molecule. For instance, for RDX one might wish to look at two or three of the RDX spectral lines. If it turns out that glycine is present, and if in fact one of the RDX spectral lines share a spectral line with the glycine, then one could ignore the overlapping spectral line.

While scanning network analyzers can be utilized as frequency sources for the subject invention, due to the fact that the transmission line does not discriminate from one frequency to the next, it is possible to connect multiple frequency sources in parallel to feed the transmission line resulting in simultaneous evaluation of several frequencies.

It is also possible to use a pseudo-random number code pattern so that the system would be difficult to jam. Moreover, the low power system is hard to detect, obscuring the fact that any scanning is going on at all.

In one embodiment while one could scan from 100 KHz to 10 MHz, this type of scanning procedure wastes a large amount of time and is not necessarily beneficial. If one is only looking for specific resonance lines, the scanning can be scheduled to appropriately frequency hop, thus dramatically reducing scanning time.

Note in this system that no single detection of a spectral line is used to declare the presence of the target material. Rather, the system desirably requires multiple hits in order to declare the presence of the target material.

It is also noted that this system looks at the stimulated emissions, as opposed to the spontaneous emissions, primarily because the spontaneous emissions are perhaps one two millionth of the power of the stimulated emissions. This is important because, as mentioned above, in determining the presence of a target molecule, one is seeing only 1% of the incident energy being returned.

Further, RDX resonances have a bandwidth of approximately 400 hertz, which as mentioned above, results in a decay time of relaxation time of about 2.5 milliseconds. Assuming a stepped sweep approach, the nucleus of the atoms making up the molecules are excited and when they go into the upper state, there is a population inversion in these nuclei, with the stimulated emission occurring immediately thereafter. Note that the stimulated atoms that have been inverted relax coherently such that there is a coherent response back to the probe. Because of the 2.5 millisecond relation time stepped sweeps would have to be adjusted accordingly.

Since there is no coil involved, one does not have to use quenching and since one uses a directional coupler to ignore the transmitted-signal, one does not have to stop and listen in order to get adequate readings.

Moreover, in one embodiment of this invention, a cancellation algorithm is utilized in which the transmission line is observed without a sample between the transmission line elements during a calibration sweep. Thereafter, any material that is between the transmission line elements has results that are subtracted from the calibration sweep results. Thus, if there are any peculiarities in the analyzer or transmission lines, these peculiarities are subtracted out. As a result, steady state noise is nulled out.

The reason for the use of the transmission line is that it focuses all the energy between the two balanced leads or elements. Because a balanced transmission line is the world's worst antenna by design it does not leak energy to the environment, unlike a coil. Concomitantly, the transmission line does not receive interference from the environment, making the subject system an extremely quiet system.

The system is implementable in a number of different forms such as providing two spaced apart transmission line elements to either side of a gate or portal through which an individual is to pass. Such a portal may be an airport security checkpoint. Moreover, two pieces of copper pipe or copper tape may be placed on opposing walls down a corridor to form the transmission line, or the balanced transmission lines can be placed on a road to detect the passage of target material between the transmission line elements. Additionally, the transmission line could for instance be configured as opposed guard rails.

Considering for instance that a terminated balanced line contains two elements, one element is called a plus element and the other is called a minus element. The magnetic flux lines are in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the elements. In one configuration, a large area can be covered using a number of side-by-side plus/minus lines. For instance, these lines could be laid out in a carpet at an airport to track people carrying explosives on their person. Thus, one can monitor the transmission lines to be able to tell where someone carrying explosives is walking and to be able to track their path.

It will be appreciated that this system, by avoiding the high Q coil, also avoids the large amount of shielding necessary for public safety or the safety of those operating the equipment. Also, as mentioned above, there is no need to actively quench any part of the probe in order to be able to listen to the relatively small, returns from the irradiated sample.

Rather than having to run a kilowatt into a coil, in the subject invention successes have been reported at a 200 milliwatt level with excellent signal to noise ratios. Thus, there is the ability to operate at a 30 dB lower power levels than a pulsed coil. This means that the entire system can be run at low power. The result is that the subject system does not interfere with magnetic media or people's safety and is very hard to detect any distance away from the test site. Thus, even standing a few feet beside the balanced transmission line one is not able to detect it. As a result, a person would not know that he or she is being monitored. Also, if a pseudo-random hopping schedule is utilized, detection of the presence of such a system is virtually impossible.

The amount of power required is dependant on how much material one is trying to detect and also the flux density that one is trying to excite it with, as well as how much integration time is available.

Small amounts of explosives can be carried on the person in the persons clothing, swallowed, or can even be surgically implanted, which would be virtually undetectable through a physical examination of the person and also through standard X-ray techniques. Thus for the creative or diligent terrorist, it may be of interest to provide pockets of the explosive within the body of the individual that could not be readily detected by present techniques.

It is noted that the maximum flux density given two spaced apart conductors is on a line between the two conductors, with the minimum being outside the transmission line. As one proceeds to the edge of the conductors, one obtains more flux density. However, the flux density does not very significantly in a direction normal to the plane between the two transmission line elements so it is possible to get reasonable coverage for a human sized object or even a truck sized object above the transmission line. Note that the transmission line impedance can typically be between 100 and 1,000 ohms which is not critical. The critical component is the flux density, with the critical flux density being, approximately 1 watt per meter².

With a flux density of less than 1 watt per meter², the signal-to-noise ratio is less for the same integration time. If the flux density is greater than 1 watt per meter², then the signal-to-noise ratio is improved because of the coherent signal. The result of the coherency is that the signal-to-noise ratio improves linearly with how much integration time is utilized.

Integration time refers to the collection of the results of multiple stimulated emissions over time. As a general rule, one has to dwell on the target material for whatever is the inverse of the particular bandwidth involved. Bandwidths in the subject case are on the order of a 100 to 500 hertz which results in dwell times of between 1 and 5 milliseconds.

Of course, as mentioned above, one need not frequency hop in 1 to 5 millisecond intervals because there is no reason why one cannot monitor multiple lines simultaneously or even feed the lines with parallel-outputted frequency generators. In short if one were using three signal generators coupled to the same transmission line, one could sense three different spectral lines simultaneously.

Since this system can sample multiple frequencies simultaneously this is considerably different from the pulsed coil nuclear quadrupole resonance systems that tend to tune a coil for a specific frequency because of the need for the high Q. Thus, in the subject system one can track the results over the entire bandwidth utilizing the same balanced transmission line probe.

As a result, this system is capable of detecting an entire class of explosives, whether they are people-born or vehicle-born. Moreover, the subject system may detect contraband such as narcotics, with many narcotics having very specific nuclear quadrupole resonance signatures. This includes cocaine and heroin.

It will be appreciated that for some complex organics the spectral lines tend to be larger, such as those associated with glycine. Glycine, even in its usual 5% concentration for dietary supplements, for instance, can be distinguished by recognizing the glycine spectra and subtracting out the nuclear quadrupole resonance signature. As a result, if it turns out that one of the spectral lines happens to be right on top of the molecule of interest, the subject system provides way to discriminate against the non-target molecules.

In summary, stimulated emissions due to nuclear quadrupole resonance are detectable utilizing an array of terminated balanced transmission lines and directional couplers, thus to detect explosives, contraband, narcotics and the like that exist between the transmission line elements, as well as to locate detected substances. In one embodiment, a stepped frequency generator is utilized to provide a scan between 100 KHz and 10 MHz. In another embodiment, parallel frequency sources are in-phase coupled to the balanced transmission lines, either embodiment permitting correlation with expected spectral lines, with the frequency sources being low power so as to not create a safety hazard and so as not to interfere with radiation sensitive devices such as film or electronic circuits that are in the vicinity of the balanced transmission lines.

What is not clear from the above is whether such a system would be able to detect substances in a metal-walled shipping container.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

While the above discusses nuclear quadrupole resonance in detecting contraband or explosives utilizing for instance a grid array of terminated balanced transmission lines, it is a finding of the subject invention that contraband or explosives within a metal shipping container can nonetheless be detected utilizing these, techniques, due to the very deep skin depth of metal containers at 0.1-4 MHz which results in increased penetration of the 0.1-4 MHz signals within the container.

The result is that the container is relatively transparent to signals at 0.1-4 MHz which permits the detection of substances utilizing nuclear quadrupole resonance.

One of the reasons that contraband and explosives can be detected in a shipping container is that shipping containers usually contain a large amount of the substance to be detected. Thus, large amounts of explosives, for instance greater than 500 pounds, can be detected by the subject system.

Moreover, the system is effective in detecting contraband and explosives because of the multi-pass reinforcement within the shipping container of the 0.1-4 MHz signal that penetrates into the container. It has been found that the multi-pass reflections intensify the stimulated emissions of the material within the container. This increased stimulated emission results in a signal that leaks out through the metal container and is detectable by the subject nuclear quadrupole resonance system.

Thirdly, since the shipping containers are in transit for significant periods of time, long integration intervals are available to permit robust container-carried substance sensing.

Thus, while it might be thought that metalized shipping containers would preclude the detection of substances utilizing NQR and stimulated emission, it has been found that due to the deep skin depth and resultant penetration associated with the metal containers, the containers are essentially transparent in the 0.1-4 MHz range. This makes getting the signal into the container and getting the stimulated emission signals out of the container easy. Moreover, any attenuation through the skin of the shipping container is counteracted by the multiple pass reinforcement of the 0.1-4 MHz signals that bounce around within the shipping container and through the substance to be detected so that the stimulated emission response can be detected. Finally, long integration times can be used to accumulate the stimulated emissions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of the subject invention will be better understood in connection with the Detailed Description, in conjunction with the Drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of the detection of an explosive hidden on an individual as the individual walks through a balanced transmission line coupled to an explosive/contraband detection unit that utilizes nuclear quadrupole resonance in which, in one embodiment, RDX spectral lines are detected to ascertain the presence of an explosive;

FIG. 2 is a graph showing the spectral signatures of a number of potential explosive materials indicating for RDX and HMX, a spectral signature in a 3-4 MHz range, with TNT indicating a spectral signature in the sub 1 MHz range as well as ammonium nitrate and potassium nitrate, with tetryl having a signature in the 3-4 MHz range and with urea nitrate having a spectral signature not only in the sub 1 MHz range but also in the 2-3 MHz range, noting that sodium nitrate has a very close spectral signature to one of the spectral lines of glycine;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration a prior art pulsed coil nuclear quadrupole resonance system illustrating the use of high power pulses and a high Q coil in which the system has a transmit-receive switch, the cycling of which depends on coil quench time;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of the subject system illustrating a stepped network analyzer functioning as a frequency source for generating a number of stepped frequencies which are amplified by a low power amplifier to less than 10 watts in one embodiment, with the amplifier being coupled to a balanced transmission line probe in which the transmission line is terminated in a load and in which a directional coupler is utilized to detect the stimulated emission from a material under test, unimpeded by the output power applied to the transmission line;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the subject system in which transmissions at various stepped frequencies are applied through a 24 bit digital-to-analog converter to a circulator that functions as a directional coupler, with the output of the circulator being converted by a 24 bit A-D converter to correlate the returns with raw correlated data from a library, the output of the hardware-implemented correlator provided to a microcontroller for detecting the existence of a particular material present at the probe; Note that this system can be used to test several simultaneous frequencies simultaneously.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of an embodiment of the subject invention in which explosives detection includes the use of parallel foil strips on opposing walls of a hallway that function as a balanced transmission line probe for detecting target materials carried by a person walking down the hallway;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic illustration of the utilization of a grid of balanced transmission lines for the location of a target material carried for instance by an individual who traverses the grid;

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic illustration of the use of the subject system as a nuclear quadrupole resonance component ratio detector for detecting the ratio of molecular components in material proceeding down a production line to detect component ratios in a non-destructive environment on the fly as the material passes between the balanced transmission line probe elements;

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic illustration of a shipboard container inspection system utilizing the subject system in combination with a mesh radio network to report incidents to a cargo control room;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of parallel-connected frequency generators coupled to a terminated balanced transmission line;

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic illustration of a wide area array grid of terminated balanced transmission lines for detection of a sensed substance as well as location at a cross point;

FIG. 12 is a diagrammatic illustration of a balanced transmission line methodology for feeding the transmission lines in parallel and for detecting the position of a sensed substance either at or between balanced transmission lines; and,

FIG. 13 is a diagrammatic illustration describing how Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Techniques can be used to detect substances in a metal shipping container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Prior to describing the subject shipping container-carried substance detection system, the Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance Technique on which the subject invention is based is now discussed.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an individual 10 may be carrying on his or her person some contraband or explosives 12 which may for instance may be secreted in his or her underwear, or could even be surgically implanted. One such explosive is RDX and it is the purpose of the subject invention to be able to detect explosives in as little quantity as 75 grams which is approximately about a fifth of a cup. Terrorists and the like are using more and more sophisticated ways of secreting explosives and/or contraband and a physical examination of the individual may not yield the presence of such explosives or contraband. Not only may the explosives or contraband be surgically implanted in the individual, they may be swallowed in bags and be held internally in the gut until such time as their “removal”.

Present systems for detecting such explosives or contraband such as back scatter X-rays are not effective to detect such secreted items and the use of higher power radiation is counterindicated for safety reasons.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, an explosive or contraband detection system 14 utilizes nuclear quadrupole resonance in which swept frequencies are applied to a balanced and terminated transmission line 16 embedded in a screening gate or housing 18 in which the elements of the balanced transmission line 20 and 21 as well as load 23 are embedded in the gate. The balanced transmission line has no frequency to which it is tuned, such that the application of signals for instance between 100 KHz and 10 MHz may be applied due to the non-tuned nature of the probe which is comprised of elements 20, 21 and 23.

As will be seen, the power necessary to detect nuclear quadrupole resonance is in general below 10 watts and often as little as 200 milliwatts, due to this explosives/contraband detection system which, inter alia, utilizes a directional coupler in the form of a circulator to cancel out the transmitted energy while receiving only the stimulated emission from the molecules in the target sample.

As used herein, the target sample 12 includes molecules having a particular recognizable spectrographic signature in which the spectral lines of the sample are recognizable when compared with the spectral lines generated through stimulated emission of all of the remaining molecules that surround the target sample.

For instance, glycine which is common in the human body has spectral lines that are distinguishable for instance from RDX spectral lines, with glycine in essence forming a background spectral signature which is to be distinguished.

While the subject invention will be discussed in terms of explosives, it is understood that the material under test may be molecules of any type having a known spectral signature. This includes contraband such as narcotics and other types of drugs such as heroin and cocaine which, due to the subject system in one embodiment involving stepped and swept frequency transmission enables one to eliminate the Spectral signatures of non-target materials while being able to single out the spectra of target materials.

Referring to FIG. 2, what is shown is a spectral chart for common explosive materials such as RDX, HMX, PETN, TNT, ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, tetral, urea nitrate and sodium nitrate, also as compared with the spectra of glycine.

What will be seen is that all of these materials have spectra between about 100 KHz and about 5 MHz, which spectra are detectable by the subject system. For instance, if one detects spectra of RDX in the 3-4 MHz band, this is clearly distinguishable from the glycine spectra which lie below 1.5 MHz.

Likewise one can distinguish PETN from RDX as well as being able to distinguish HMX from RDX due to the offset of the spectra of HMX in the 3-4 MHz band from the spectra of RDX.

Since this system detects stimulated emission from all of the molecules in the sample between the balanced transmission lines, it is possible through correlation processing to be able to provide a probability of a match between the spectral lines of the target material as opposed to the spectral lines due from molecules that are not target materials and which constitute background.

Referring now to FIG. 3, what will be seen in the prior art pulsed coil nuclear quadrupole resonance system is the utilization of a high Q coil 20 which is driven from a frequency generator 22, the output of which is amplified by an amplifier 24 to the 1 kilowatt level. The signal from the amplifier is switched via a transmit/receive switch 26 and is applied to the coil during a pulsed sequence, with switch 26 being returned to the receive position at which point the high Q coil 20 is coupled to a low noise amplifier 26, to an analog-to-digital converter 28 and thence to a computer 30 for measuring the spontaneous emission response from material under test 32.

In short, since the system described in FIG. 3 measures the spontaneous emission of the material under test and since in order to generate enough spontaneous emission high power was deemed to be necessary, the system of FIG. 3 is clearly not usable around human beings for safety reasons.

Moreover, in order to be able to eliminate the effect of the transmitted power with respect to the relatively low power of the receive signal, it Was necessary to be able to quench high Q coil 20 so as to be able to see the return from the material under test. The quench time, τ_(Q) is problematic with respect to providing realtime measurements. It has been found that it is important to be able to provide circuitry to be able to quench high Q coil 20 in order to increase the pulse repetition frequency. However, the quench time when utilizing a high Q coil is problematic as mentioned above.

Moreover, the utilization of a high. Q coil is problematic because it also collects background, which background can oftentimes obscure the results.

On the other hand and referring now to FIG. 4, a balanced transmission line probe 40 is coupled to a power amplifier 42 which amplifies a frequency generator 44 output, in one embodiment provided by a stepped network analyzer. The transmission line is terminated by a terminating load 46.

When a material under test 48 is placed between the balanced transmission line elements 50 and 52, it has been found that the stimulated emission from the material under test can be sensed utilizing a directional coupler 54 coupled to a low noise amplifier 56 which is in turn coupled back to the network analyzer 44 that detects a S21 the very low level stimulated response of the material under test. It is noted that network analyzer 44 is coupled to a computer 58 such that the returned signal can be processed and an alarm 60 activated if the material under test has a spectral signature match to that of a target material.

While it is possible to generate only one frequency corresponding to one the major spectral line of the target sample, it is useful to be able to scan frequencies for instance f₁-f_(n) in Order to detect the spectral lines of whatever materials might be between the elements of the balanced transmission line. Because the balanced transmission line has a Q of zero, not only is it possible to couple a wide frequency range of signals to the transmission line, the Q of zero also means that there is very little outside interference with respect to the signals that exist interior to the transmission line.

Moreover it has been found that while the flux densities vary at various positions between the transmission line elements, at least in the plane of the transmission line elements, locating a material under test above or below the plane of the transmission line elements does not materially affect the readings.

Referring to FIG. 5, in one embodiment an memory card (such as a SXDX 62 gigabyte card) having a 30 MB per second transfer rate may be utilized to generate the 100 KHz to 10 MHz signals that are coupled to probe 64 utilizing a 24 bit digital-to-analog converter 66 to which is applied a PN code 68 in one embodiment.

The utilization of a pseudo-random code is for defeating jamming, with the pseudo-random code being similar to that utilized in GPS systems for this purpose.

The input to the probe and the output from the probe are coupled to a circulator 70 which, as described above, completely eliminates the effect of the transmitted signal on the received signal, thereby to eliminate the problems of having to quench a high Q coil.

The output of circulator 70 is applied to a 24 bit analog-to-digital converter 72, with the receive PN code being applied to a hardware implemented correlator 74 that correlates the received stimulated emission information with raw correlator data 76 such that if there is a high correlation between the raw correlator data and the received data, microcontroller 78 may be used to drive memory card event log 80 and also provide an operator interface 82 alarm condition indicator.

Note that in terms of the generation of stepped frequency signals, a library 84 may be utilized that carries the spectral signatures of many types of target molecules. This results in the ability to generate a large variety of very narrow frequency signals which are applied to probe 64.

It will be appreciated that the frequency stability of the signal generator in the form of a network analyzer such as shown in FIG. 4 is critical due to the narrow nature of the spectral lines that are generated by the nuclear quadrupole resonance phenomena and the requirement of coherence.

Referring now to FIG. 6, in one embodiment, an explosive contraband detection system 90 may be coupled to a balanced transmission line probe 92 which includes elements 94 and 96 embedded foil strips in hallway walls 98 and 100, with elements 94 and 96 terminated in a resistance load 102. In this case an entire hallway may be monitored for the presence of target molecules whether carried by a person or in some other conveyance as it transits down a hallway.

Referring to FIG. 7, it is possible to provide a grid of balanced transmission lines here shown at 110 to include pairs of transmission lines for instance vertical pairs 112 and 114 indicated by the plus and minus nomenclature for the particular transmission line. Likewise, a crossing or transverse transmission line structure may include transmission lines 116 and 118. By monitoring the results on the various transmission lines one can localize the target molecule as illustrated at 120 as being at position x_(n) y_(m). This kind of grid, whether on the floor or surrounding a building can track the presence of explosives or contraband materials and therefore determine the track or path of the individual or conveyance which is transporting these materials.

For this particular embodiment the detection of explosives in for instance the north/south direction here illustrated at 122 is correlated with at explosive detection in east/west direction here illustrated at 124 to provide location.

More particularly and referring now to FIGS. 11 and 12, in order to be able to geolocate a sensed substance, for instance carried by individuals 202 and 204, a blanket array, wide area, detection grid 206 stretches across an area 208 for instance in front of a building 210 having an ingress 212.

When the subject system is utilized to protect an area from intrusion especially by those carrying explosives, the wide area blanket array detection system includes balanced transmission line plus/minus pairs 212 in spaced adjacently one to the other running horizontally as illustrated, whereas a crossed set of balanced transmission line pairs 214 overlays the balanced transmission line pairs 212 so as to form the aforementioned grid.

In the horizontal direction and as mentioned before, a stepped network analyzer measuring board 220 includes a stepped network analyzer 222 coupled to an amplifier 224 which provides a balanced output 226 and 228 to a horizontally running, balanced transmission line comprised of plus/minus lines 230 and 234. A directional coupler 236, coupled to a low noise amplifier 238 is connected as an input to the stepped network analyzer which measures S21 in a particular horizontal direction, here shown by Y_(m).

For the vertical direction, a network analyzer board 240 includes a stepped network analyzer 242 coupled to an amplifier 244 having a balanced output 246 and 248 coupled to balanced transmission line elements 250 and 252. Here a directional coupler 254 is coupled to a low noise amplifier 256, which provides a signal coupled back to stepped network analyzer 242 such that S21_(xn) is measured.

The above establishes a cross point array or grid with each of the balanced transmission lines is terminated by a resistor 258.

Assuming that the stepped network analyzers are coupled to a localization computer 260, its output provides the cross point location on the grid.

As will be discussed, if a grid type of balanced transmission line array is not used, then the sensed substance can be located by detecting the phase between the transmitted and the received signal associated with a balanced transmission line, thereby to place the sensed substance at a calculated distance from the balanced line feedpoint.

In operation, the network analyzer board sends a swept CW signal down a balanced transmission line. If sensed substances such as explosives are present, a stimulated emission is picked up by the directional coupler. S21 is continuously measured and compared to an S21 sweep in memory, taken where no substances or objects are inside the transmission lines. The phase of the S21 output depends upon the distance of the detected substance from the fed end of the transmission line. This provides information about the location of the sensed substances or explosives.

It is noted that the network analyzer board houses a power amplifier.

For each of the balanced transmission lines in the horizontal directional and each of the balanced transmission lines in the vertical direction, there is a separate network analyzer board coupled to the respective balanced transmission lines. These boards simultaneously transmit the CW signals down the balanced transmission lines, with each of the lines carrying CW signals of identical frequency and, in one embodiment, zero phase difference between the signals.

Thus, each of the balanced transmission lines in the horizontal and the vertical direction are simultaneously fed with signals having identical frequencies. Moreover, the signals coupled to the balanced transmission lines are in phase. As a result, if there is a sensed substance in between the lines of the balanced transmission line then there will be an S21 signal indicative of the substance.

Note, network analyzer board 220 is duplicated as illustrated at 220′ whereas network analyzer 240 is duplicated as illustrated by network analyzer board 240′. Any significant difference between the S21 measurement with the S21 values in memory provides an indication of a sensed substance, in one embodiment, in a crossed point detection system.

Referring to FIG. 12, it can be seen that a central processor 270 controls analyzer boards 272, 274 and 276 coupled respectively to balanced transmission lines 278-280, 282-284 and 286-288.

As mentioned with respect to FIG. 11, all transmission lines are fed in-phase. It is noted that the measured S21 information from each analyzer board is routed to a central processor.

If for instance a Perpetrator 2 is located between transmission lines 282 and 284, Perpetrator 2 will be detected by analyzer board 2.

If however Perpetrator 1 is between the balanced transmission lines 278-280 and 282-284, then Perpetrator 1 will be seen by both analyzer board 1 and analyzer board 2.

The ratios of the signature reflection from analyzer board 1 and analyzer board 2 is a function of exactly where Perpetrator 1 is located.

It will be seen that using the ratios and the phases of the signature reflections it is possible to track perpetrators as they progress along the floor Or across the array of balanced transmission lines.

It will also be noted that in one embodiment, the analyzer boards are controlled to provide a common sweep by central processor 270.

Referring now to FIG. 8, one of the important characteristics of this system is that the molecular component ratio can be detected on the fly in a production line environment to provide non-destructive testing. Here a nuclear quadrupole resonance component ratio detector 130 is utilized with a balanced transmission line probe 132 to, for instance, detect the molecular composition of a drug 134 in pill form as the pills pass through the balanced transmission line probe. It has been found that by sweeping the frequency of the signals to the balanced transmission line probe one can detect not only the spectral lines of the various components in question, but also can detect the ratio of the target components.

Thus, rather than having to perform destructive tests in order to ascertain the constituents of a product being manufactured, one can non-destructively detect the component ratios utilizing the subject nuclear quadrupole resonance system.

Shipping Container NQR Detection

Referring now to FIG. 9, another embodiment of this system is the ability to track the contents of cargo containers that may either be placed shipboard or on other modes of conveyance in which, as illustrated, a cargo container 140 may be provided with internal balanced transmission lines 142 terminated as illustrated at 144 and coupled, for instance, to an explosive detection system 146 of the subject nuclear quadrupole resonance variety. If for instance the containers contain explosives or contraband, here illustrated at 148, whether these materials are initially placed in the container or later clandestinely placed into a sealed container, their presence can be detected as illustrated at 146 by an explosives detector. Through the use of a mesh network 148, the detected results can be communicated from explosives detector 146 and a co-located transmitter 150 which is part of a self establishing mesh network 152 aboard a ship to the cargo control room. Mesh network 152 includes one or more repeaters 156 which relays the information from transmitter 150 to a receiver 158 in the cargo control room.

It is noted that when monitoring containers, due to the length of time on board ship, the integration times available for the sensing of the stimulated emissions are dramatically increased. This long integration time can accommodate lower power detection. What this means is that an exceedingly robust system is available for detecting the relatively minute simulated emissions, with integrating occurring over a long period of time, thanks to the fact that the containers are in transit for substantial periods of time. While this embodiment of the subject system has been described in terms of shipboard containers, any kind of container monitoring on conveyances is within the scope of the subject invention.

It is also possible for instance to utilize the subject system to detect contraband or explosives in trucks that pass through a portal. This is possible due to the relatively thick skin depths associated with metal containers that permit penetration of low frequency signals so that the transmission line carried signals can penetrate well into the containers. Thus, the subject system may be utilized to detect not only person-carried contraband and explosives, but also truck or vehicle-carried contraband or explosives, as for instance they proceed through a portal or checkpoint.

More particularly and referring now to FIG. 13, if it is desirable to check the contents of a shipping container such as a metal container 300 carried by a truck 302, a nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system of the type described above, here shown at 304, is connected to a terminated balance line array 306.

While the subject system will be described in terms of a truck, for instance at a checkpoint in which the integration times may be as much as 500 seconds, or in terms of a truck going 30 MPH across transmission lines that extend 100 feet, giving a 2 to 3 second integration time, it has been found that the near field from the balanced transmission lines extends upwardly without a great deal of attenuation in terms of distance to permit substance detection above the grid.

Thus, if truck 302 has a bed that extends 5 feet above the grid which is on a road having an implanted grid, then there is not much loss with respect to distance.

If for instance the grid transmission lines are driven at 500 watts, a non-harmful amount of power given the fact that the grid is only radiating within the confines of the grid and not beyond the grid, then it is possible to detect relatively large amounts of explosives or contraband here shown at 308 confined within metal container 300.

As will be seen, measurements taken for steel containers of 1/16, ⅛ and ¼ inch thickness, given 5 feet from the grid, results in the ability to detect substances within the metal shipping container. Thus if one for instance loses 20 to 30 dB when traversing into a steel container, it is still possible to detect the substances within the steel container.

The reason for this is, as noted above, is that at low frequencies skin depths are very deep, e.g. 10 mils. This means that as the skin depth goes up so does the penetration. Thus, metal containers are relatively transparent as 0.1-4 MHz.

As can be seen from the table below, the ability to detect sizable amounts of explosives or contraband within the metal container is possible utilizing the subject NQR detection system.

TABLE I ESTIMATED POWER REQUIRED TO DETECT 500 KG OF EXPLOSIVES IN A CONTAINER 5 FEET ABOVE THE GRID STEEL THICK- FREO(KHZ) NESS 500 khz 700 khz 1000 Khz .0625  1 SEC SWEEP .035 w .064 w 0.2 w 10 SEC INTEGRATION .011 w .02 w .063 w .125  1 SEC SWEEP 1.5 w 5 w 30 w 10 SEC INTEGRATION .47 w 1.6 w 9.5 w .1875  1 SEC SWEEP 50 w 400 w 5000 w 10 SEC INTEGRATION 16 w 126 w 1581 w

Assuming as shown at 310 that one integrates the S21 results from the network analyzers within the NQR detection system, then the robustness of the substance detection revolves around the number of sweeps of a system in the particular integration time.

The more sweeps that one can integrate, the better will be the results. Thus, if there is enough time to do 1,000 sweeps then the quality of the results will be improved. Note, quality is directly proportional to integration time. It is of course possible for stationary metal containers to integrate up to for instance 1,000,000 sweeps.

Such a situation would exist when metal shipping containers are aboard a ship whose transit time may be measured in terms of weeks or months. How one gets the information from each of the shipping containers out through to the cargo control room is a matter of utilizing mesh networks.

Regardless, if one has a significant amount of integration time, substance detection 312 is indeed robust.

On the other hand, if one is trying to detect contraband or explosives in a rolling vehicle which is proceeding down a road into which an array 306 is embedded, then it depends on the velocity of the vehicle as to how much integration time one has for a given length of the grid.

As can be seen, for a grid having a longitudinal dimension of 100 feet, and given a speed of 30 MPH or 44 feet per second, one has 2 to 3 seconds of integration time.

As mentioned above, if the container is stationary, then it depends on how long the container remains stationary. At a checkpoint for instance there may be 500 seconds of integration time corresponding to the length of time that the vehicle is stopped at a checkpoint. The number of sweeps at 500 seconds of integration time is 250. Moreover, if for instance one is looking at a vehicle traveling 30 MPH, then one might be able to accomplish a few hundred sweeps.

Utilizing coherent integration techniques one can pick up another 20 dB in signal-to-noise ratio such that in all of the above cases, large amounts of explosives or contraband can in fact be detected.

When metal container 300 contains substance 308 therein, assuming that a 0.1-4 MHz signal 320 enters container 300 as indicated, it bounces back and forth within the container as illustrated by dotted lines 320′ such that there are multiple passes of the 0.1-4 MHz energy through the substance. The result of the multiple passes increases the amount of stimulated emission from the substance such that a leaked out signal 322 is detectable outside of the shipping container.

While the amount of leaked signal is attenuated by the passage through the metal walls of the container, it is a finding of the subject invention that the existing leaked signal is detectable and is no more problematical then the loss of 20 to 30 dB for long range stimulated emission detection such as described in co-pending patent application entitled Long Distance Explosive Detection Using Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance and One or More Monopoles, corresponding to provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/299,646.

It is noted that in one embodiment one can cover the whole frequency range between 0.1 and 4 MHz in 2 to 3 seconds, with this constituting a sweep in one embodiment.

While it is possible to integrate the results from the directional couplers associated with the NQR detection system, it is also possible to integrate the S21 ratios that are the result of the stimulated emission. Moreover, it is possible to integrate the number of hits over time for matching a particular signature with one of a library of signatures.

Thus, it is possible to integrate results from the directional couplers or the S21 ratios. It is also possible to integrate the output of the matched filters associated with particular explosives, there being a library of matched filters associated with the signatures, i.e. the set of resonances for each explosive, for instance as seen in FIG. 2.

Regardless of having large integration times, it is a finding of the subject invention that relatively large amounts of substances to be detected which are housed in a metal container can in fact be detected by the subject NQR system, given an appropriate power level of signal coupled to the terminated balanced transmission lines.

On the other hand, if one is utilizing radiated power from a monopole tuned to the particular sweeped frequency, then it is possible utilizing this type of antenna structure to detect the presence of substances within a vehicle that pass within for instance 50 or 60 feet of an array of monopoles.

In summary, it is a finding of the subject invention that it is indeed possible to detect substances in metalized containers through the use of the subject NQR detection techniques that involve measuring the stimulated emission and matching signatures from the returned signals with those in a library to derive a signal indicative of the presence of a particular substance.

Referring now to FIG. 10, while the subject system has been described in terms of stepped frequency production, it is possible to use a parallel-connected set of frequency generators 170, 172 and 174, the outputs of which are summed at 176 and applied to a balanced transmission line 178 having elements 180 and 182 through a circulator 184. It is also possible to synthesize multi frequency signals digitally. The output of circulator 184 is applied to a network analyzer or receiver 186 that, inter alia, enables correlations between spectral lines found at the various frequencies to target molecule spectral lines, whereupon signals representative of the presence of the target molecule may be applied to an alarm 188.

Thus, whether or not stepped frequencies are utilized, or whether a number of parallel-connected frequency sources are utilized, spectral lines of target and non-target molecules can be quickly scanned.

While the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications or additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function of the present invention without deviating therefrom. Therefore, the present invention should not be limited to any single embodiment, but rather construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the recitation of the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for detecting substances including contraband and explosives housed in a metal container, comprising: irradiating the container with electromagnetic energy below 4 MHz utilizing a terminated balanced transmission line outside the container; and, measuring the stimulated emissions from the substance that is the result of nuclear quadrupole resonance utilizing the terminated balanced transmission line, the step of measuring nuclear quadrupole resonance from stimulated emissions including measuring irradiation below 4 MHz, wherein measuring the stimulated emissions includes measuring the stimulated emission spectra of the stimulated emissions, the measuring step including providing a network analyzer having a S21 ratio output and having the capability of generating a signal below 4 MHz coupled to an antenna and having a directional coupler for separating the transmitted signal from the stimulated response signal, the directional coupler being coupled to the network analyzer such that stimulated emission response is measured by the S21 ratio.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic energy is frequency swept and wherein the S21 ratio response constitutes a stimulated emission signature, with the stimulated emission signature being a result of the frequency sweep.
 3. The method of claim 2, and further including the step of initializing the measuring system by having the network analyzer transmit a 0.1-4 MHz signal into an area which is free of any substances to be detected, thus to establish a baseline.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the measuring step includes maintaining a library of signals each related to a spectrum of a different substance, and further including the step of correlating the detected signal with all the signals in the library such that a signal match indicates the presence of the indicated substance, whereas signatures that do not match are rejected.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the metal container is a shipping container.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the shipping container is immobile over an extended period of time and wherein the stimulated response is integrated over an extended period of time, the integrating detected step associated integrating the stimulated emission response.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the shipping container is aboard a vessel. 